Love & Monsters
by ponylkb
Summary: An ordinary man becomes obsessed with the Doctor, Rose and Peter, and uncovers a world of living nightmares. After a run in with the Doctor as a child Elton Pope discovers people also wanting to find the Timelord and his companions. Soon the group becomes friends and LINDA until Victor Kennedy arrives. Suddenly members of LINDA start disappearing as love and monsters find Elton.
1. Chapter 1

Scrambling up the rocky hill he paused at the top of it for a moment to look around for it before running down the other side and through the weed covered scrub land. Reaching the bottom of it he was forced to stop and bend over as he caught his breath. But then he saw it. In front of him was a series of small abandoned warehouses and in front of them was what he'd been looking for. The Tardis was stood near one of the large blue doors each of the warehouses had. Walking over to it the man came to a stop next to it as he stared at it in awe. Reaching out his hand to touch it he was inches away when a voice made him jump back and look towards the warehouses.

"Doctor! Doctor look out!" Rose's voice was heard to yell. Running into the warehouse where the voice had come from the man found himself in a large open room with a staircase leading down the floor below.

"Where's he gone? Have you seen him?" The Doctor's voice sounded from somewhere below him.

"There he is! There!" Peter's voice replied. Running down the staircase the man followed the shouting of the three people until he came to a darkly lit corridor with other passageways linking off it. Looking down it the man suddenly heard a soft growling as he then started to walk down it. The growling was coming from a close door in front of him that looked as if it led outside. What he found on the other side, however, made him lose his breath. In front of him was a tall brown skinned creature with a wrinkled face, sharp teeth and exposed gums. Seeing him it roared viciously.

"That's what it did! It went roar!" The man said much later to his camera that he'd sent up in his small flat. "And if you think that was the most exciting day of my life wait till you hear the rest , oh boy" He said. "So there I was with that thing going roar!" He then began retelling the story.

On the day that it had happened the man slowly began backing away as the roaring creature started walking towards him. Suddenly a man in a brown pinstripe suit and a light brown coat appeared from behind it.

"Here boy, eat the food" The Doctor told the creature as brought out a chuck of meat and dangled it towards the creature. "Come on, look at the lovely food, Isn't it nice? Yes it is" He coaxed as the creature smelt the meat and turned towards him. "Get out of here," The Doctor then said to the man casually before continuing to coax the creature with the meat. "I said run!" He then shouted with the man did not immediately leave. The man turned and ran but stopped again at the end of the corridor as Peter came running past with a blue bucket of steaming water. The man watched as Peter ran up to the creature and threw the water over it. "Wrong one! You made it worse!" The Doctor told Peter as the creature writhed and hissed in anger.  
"You said blue!" Peter shouted back.

"I said not blue!" The Doctor told him.

"What's the difference!?" Peter asked in annoyance but stopped as the creature turned to face him and growled. Sensing the danger Peter turned on his heel and ran into the nearest adjoining corridor as the creature gave chase. The Doctor gave a frustrated sigh.  
"Hold on!" He called as he shut the door in front of him and took the outside route. The man was left alone watching the silent corridor for a few moments. Suddenly the Doctor reappeared as he ran yelling out of a side corridor and into another as the creature came running after him a moment later. A second later Peter ran out of the corridor the Doctor had disappeared down as the creature then ran after him. Over the next few minutes the man watched the Doctor, Peter and the creature run in and out of the side corridors, either being chased or chasing. Soon Rose was seen running among them as she carried a red steaming bucket of water. During one of these run pasts the Doctor suddenly stopped and looked at the man. "Hold on, Don't I know you?" He asked him. But the man, after seeing all that he had in the last few minutes, turned and ran from the room in fright. Stumbling out of the building he heard the Tardis take off and sighed in frustration.

"You can't imagine it, the Doctor's machine, the most beautiful sound in the world" The man said much later to his camera in his flat. "That wasn't the first time I met the Doctor and it certainly wasn't the last oh no, I just put that bit in at the beginning cause it's a brilliant opening but er, its a story of me and er, my encounters with alien life forms" He said. "But be warned because it is gonna get scary" He then said as he leaned in towards the lens. "I need a remote control zoom I'm having to do a lean, scary" He explained with a smile before he leaned into the lens again. "But look don't worry it's not just me sitting here talking oh no" He reassured.

He had in fact gone out earlier in the year to a street of houses he knew very well. "That's Ursula on camera" He said as he pointed to the woman filming him as he walked down the street towards her as she backed up.  
"Hello" She said as put her hand in view of the camera for a moment.

"My good friend Ursula Blake on my brand new camera" The man said. Ursula was soon shakily focusing in on one of the houses. "That was my family home down there, I did try but there's two women living there now and they're a bit er, sever" The man explained. "Never mind but that is where it all started cause that's where I first met the Doctor" He explained.

His memories of that night were hazy but he did remember coming out of his room and standing at the top of the stairs. "What was it? Er, I must have been three or four years old, middle of the night" He recalled. As he remembered walking to his living room door. "I went downstairs, and there was this man" He said as he recalled the Doctor standing in his lounge.

"Well what happened? Elton tell me why was he there?" Ursula asked as she watched Elton stare at his old house.

I don't know, I don't know I still don't know, all those years ago" He replied as he looked very much in deep thought before waving his hands at Ursula indicating to stop recording. After showing the footage of him on his old street the man switched the camera back to record him in his flat. "Ok first things first my name is Elton, er not to be confused with," He explained as he inserted a clip of Elton John. "I left school I got a job, transport manger retailer logistics, modest little haulage company, perfectly normal life and then it all went mad" He told the camera. "Two years ago I was in town stocking up, you know nothing special all the usual stuff," He recalled as he remember that night shopping in London. "When all of a sudden," He said as he remembered walking past a shop window that had mannequins stood in it that suddenly started moving, with one smashing the window he'd just walked past. He had then found himself in the middle of chaos as he and the rest of the panicked public saw all of the mannequins from the surrounding shops come to life and begin to attack them. "Shop window dummies! Come to life!" He said as he remembered running through the chaotic scene, nearly getting run over by a taxi during the process. "I survived, obviously" Elton then told the camera. "Twelve months later I'm back in town, I'm up west looking for a new suit, something nice and smart, when I hear this plane overhead" He then recalled as he remembered stooping in the street and looking up just in time to see the Slitheen ship fly overhead on it's way towards Big Ben. Elton had then watched as it smashed into the famous landmark. "But it wasn't over yet cause then Christmas Day, I'm in bed fast asleep nice and cosy quarter to eight in the morning when all of a sudden," He recalled his front window being blasted apart, caused by the arriving Sycorax ship. "I was stuck in bed right cause there's glass everywhere! And I was bare foot! I had to invent this rudimentary pulley system just to reach my boots and by the time I done that" He explained as he remembered looking out of his window and seeing the massive rocky Sycorax ship overhead. "And that's when it all started happening, that's how I met Ursula" Elton then told the camera.

They had first met up face to face in a park.  
"His name is the Doctor" She had told him.  
"That's how I met Victor Kennedy" Elton told the camera.

"You stupid man!" He remembered Victor shouting at him.

"That's how I met Stephen and his wife Emma" Elton remembered.

"This man's trying to find Peter, Emma" Stephen had told Emma as they stood at their front door after Elton had knocked on it.

"That's how I met Jackie Tyler" Elton recalled.  
"You don't meet many Elton's" She'd said to him.

"And that's how I finally met the Doctor and realised the truth" Elton then said as his childhood memory of his resurfaced.

That evening he turned back on the camera as he sat down at his desk.  
"I should say this isn't my whole life it's not all spaceships and stuff cause I'm into all sorts of stuff," He said to the camera. "Er, I like football I like a drink I like Spain and if there's one thing I really really love then it's Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra cause you can't beat a bit of ELO" He admitted.

His recording then cut to clips of him dancing in his flat to 'Mr Blue Sky' for a few minutes before cutting to another day as he sat back down in front of his camera. "So great big spaceship hanging over London! Imagine the theorists! The internet went into melt down" He told it, remembering his computer blowing up as he tried to search for it. "But I kept on digging, something was going on oh yes! And then one day on some obscure little blog by someone called Ursula Blake, it was like a chance in a million" He said.

The blog he'd found was titled 'My Invasion Blog' and had a blurry photograph of the Doctor in the Sycorax ash as it's cover. "It was him! It was that man again but the photo was new! It was taken on Christmas Day but Christmas just gone! And he looked exactly the same" Elton said to the camera.

"His name is the Doctor" Ursula had told him on the day they had first met face to face.

"Doctor what?" Elton had asked as they sat on a park bench.  
"That's all anyone knows but Christmas Day I was taking photos all over the place, I went mad with it all," She replied. "Spaceships and everything, we all went to Trafalgar Square that night cause everyone was celebrating just being alive, and I snapped him in passing that all, he was just some bloke, I didn't realise he was significant until Mr Skinner pointed it out" She explained.

"Who's Mr Skinner?" Elton asked.

"Oh there's a few of us, the inner sanctum all studying this Doctor" Ursula replied. Elton considered for a moment before sliding up the bench a little closer to her.  
"I've seen him, the Doctor, I swear to you I saw him when I was a kid, he was in my house and he was downstairs..." He began to say as Ursula smiled.  
"Don't tell me, he looked exactly the same then as he does now?" She guessed.

"Yes, yes!" Elton whispered back as Ursula chuckled knowingly. "Oh my god! You believe me?" He asked her before they started chatting. "So that's how I met Ursula, all thanks to the Doctor" Elton told the camera as he recalled them walking through the park as they got to know one another. "Turns out we'd read all the same sites and she only lived half a mile away, she was like a proper mate" He said. "Poor Ursula" He then said much more sombrely as he recalled her last moments. "But like she said, there was this little community, the select few all with their stories of the Doctor" He told the camera. "This little gang use to meet up underneath the other library on Maccateer Street" He recalled.

The room was large an mostly empty but was comfortable enough for the small group of people who used it to sit in a circle and chat. "Mr Skinner, first name Colin but we always called him Mr Skinner, I don't know why we just did" Elton said as he remembered the grey haired man who always wore a grey blazer over his clothing.

"To me the Doctor isn't a man he's more a collection of archetypes" Mr Skinner has pitched to the group on a flip chart.

"Then there was Bridget," Elton recalled the black haired middle aged woman.

"All these Doctors come and go but the single constant factor is this faux police box, it keeps cropping up throughout history" She said as she showed then differed examples or drawings of a blue box from many different sources via projection slides.

"She lived way up north but she travelled down without fail just for the meetings" Elton told the camera. "The there was Bliss," He said as he remembered the young woman who was rather hippie like in both looks and behaviour.

"What I'm trying to do," She said as she unveiled a abstract and peculiar sculpture that looked like lines. "Is sum up the Doctor, what he means to us, what he could represent and what he should represent and what he, never won't represent sort of thing" She told them as the group nodded politely.  
"She was ever so sweet, Bliss, bless Bliss we use to say," Elton recalled. One meeting Ursula spoke up.

"We should have a name, you know as a group?" She suggested.

"Names are very important" Bliss agreed.

"What we need is a good strong name like a team, something like London Investigation 'n' Detective Agency! LINDA for short!" Elton suggested.

"Say it again?" Mr Skinner asked.

"London Investigation 'n' Detective Agency" Elton repeated.

"N?" Mr Skinner asked.

"Fish n Chips, Rock n Roll!" Elton explained as everyone realised what he meant.

"I like it! It's not too solemn" Bridget said.  
"I like the n" Bliss said.  
"We're the men from LINDA!" Elton said enthusiastically.

"And the women" Bridget added.  
"LINDA united" Mr Skinner said with a smiled. Ursula then turned to Elton.  
"Did you think of that on the spot?" She asked him quietly.

"Na, wanted to use it for years" He replied.

"I give you LINDA" Mr Skinner then said, holding up his glass.

"LINDA!" The group toasted with their cups of tea.


	2. Chapter 2

Still talking to his camera Elton then recalled the meetings LINDA had.

"So we'd all meet up every week and we'd talk about the Doctor for a bit," He explained. "But after a while Bridget started cooking" He said as he remembered Bridget bringing down a variety of food.  
"Oh my god that's gorgeous! No really wow!" Ursula had told her.

"Next thing you know Mr Skinner started his readings cause he was writing his own novel," Elton told the camera as he remembered sitting with the others as they listened to Mr Skinner read out his work.  
"And that's the last time you ride the ghost train Johnny Franzetta! Now say your prayers!" He read out before stopping. "To be continued" He teased the group as he but the novel away as they started protesting, wanting to hear more.

"Time went on and we got to know each other better and better" Elton recalled. One meeting they were all sat in a circle listening to Bridget tell her story.  
"I only started all this because my daughter disappeared," She told them in an upset voice. "It wasn't aliens that took her away, it was just er, drugs" She said, spitting out the word 'drugs'. "I come down to London every week and I just keep looking for her," She said before starting to cry as Ursula wrapped and arm around her whilst Mr Skinner took hold of her hand. Bliss had also contributed to the meetings by bringing her acoustic guitar and singing.  
"I gave my love a chicken it had no bones, I gave a cherry it had no stone," She sung. Soon Ursula joined her with a tambourine in her singing sessions.  
"That it turned out Bridget could play the piano and I confessed my love of ELO, next thing you know, musical LINDA! Just for fun" Elton told the camera.

With Mr Skinner on drums, Bridget on piano, Ursula and Bliss on guitars and Elton singing LINDA had soon become a band.

It was during one of these sessions that the lights and power of their room went out.

"Careful mind the cables" Mr Skinner called through the darkness as everyone groaned in annoyance at the power loss. A moment later, however, the lift they took down into the room came down, allowing the light on the black wall of it to spill into the room. In front of the light stood a person, a man. The group watched him slide back the old fashioned guard doors before walking into the room.

"And that's when it all changed, that Tuesday night in March, that's when he arrived," Elton said to the camera as he recalled the man setting down his briefcase before holding up his arms.

"Lights!" He commanded. And the lights came back on, revealing him into sight.

"That's when we met Victor Kennedy, and the golden age was gone" Elton said to the camera. Victor Kennedy was a plump grey haired and bearded man dressed in a black suit, hat and long fur trimmed coat. He was also carrying a sliver hand trimmed walking cane.

"So we meet at last, LINDA" He said rather dramatically, air quoting 'LINDA'.

"Pleased to meet you sir, I'm sorry was the music too loud...?" Mr Skinner began to ask politely as he stepped forward and offered his hand for him to shake.

"No no I don't shake hands! Back back! I suffer from a skin complaint, exemma" Victor told him and the others as he indicated with his hands and walking cane for them to back away.

"Oh you mean eczema?" Elton asked.

"Oh this is worse, much worse I blister to the touch, back back all of you! Thank you" Victor told them as they all stepped back.

"Sorry? If you don't mind me asking but, who are you?" Elton then nervously asked him.

"I am your salvation" He told them all.

Bringing out his laptop from his suitcase Victor opened up a video file that showed the Doctor, Rose and Peter walking across a derelict yard towards the Tardis.

"That's the Doctor!" Ursula gasped.  
"That's really him!" Elton added as LINDA all watched over Victor's shoulder as he sat down in front of the with the laptop on his knee.

"Forgotten your purpose in life, your with your band and your cakes and your blubbing and all the while he still exists" Victor told them as they watched the Doctor, Rose and Peter step inside the Tardis, unaware they were being filmed.

"Look at him! Just look!" Bliss gasped as she leaned over Victor's shoulder.

"Move back! Move back all of you!" He reminded her and them all as they took a step back. The video image then tuned out. "Wait for this bit, the picture cuts out but the sound still continues" Victor told them as they all then heard the Tardis take off. "Listen, listen to the sound of the universe, yes!" He told them. Elton was suddenly having flashbacks to his childhood memories as he sat down on a nearby chair.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ursula asked him as she and the others noticed.

"Leave him!" Victor ordered as he set the laptop down and came over, pushing the others back with his cane.

"You've heard it before haven't you? When? When was it? Where? Where were you?" He asked desperately.

"I'd forgotten, till now" Elton replied quietly. "And it was that night," He added.

"What night?" Victor asked as he and LINDA all watched him.

"I was just a kid, that's why I went downstairs, it woke me up, that noise" Elton said as he remembered the sound of the Tardis standing at the top of his house's stairs and then being downstairs. "But what is it? What does it mean?" He then asked Victor.

"That is the sound of his spaceship" Victor replied.

Gathering them all in a circle he set down his briefcase a desk he'd put in front of them all. "Right then homework! Using the Torchwood files we are able to look at all of the old data in a completely knew light" He said as he began handing out chunky sleek black folders to them all. "We're able to build up a more detailed profile of the Doctor, I've allocated tasks to each of you, I'd like you too..." He began to tell them as he was handing a file to Mr Skinner who moved a little to closely to him. "Careful! Watch the exemma!" He warned him as Mr Skinner then carefully took the file off him. "I'd like you to complete your targets and meet back here this time next week, one step closer to catching the Doctor" He said to them all as he sat down at his desk as LINDA all looked over their files. "Well don't just sit there! Move" Victor ordered them. They then all began leaving for the lift. "Er, Bliss?" Victor then called more gently. "It is Bliss isn't it?" He asked Bliss, who was the last to leave as she was putting on her coat.

"Yeah" She replied with a smile.

"Could I have a word with you in private?" Victor asked her.

"Course you can yeah" She replied sweetly.

"Thank you" Victor said. "Goodbye" He then told the lingering LINDA members as they left in the life.

"Better get to work, lots to do" Elton said as he and the leaving LINDA members walked away from the building.  
"I never though of it as work" Ursula said.

"It's what we've always wanted though, to find the Doctor" Elton replied.

"Yeah I suppose" Ursula replied. As the group walked off, however, none of them heard Bliss's scream.

"All of a sudden without anyone saying so we were working for Victor Kennedy" Elton told the camera.

The room under the library had been completely transformed from what it had been when LINDA first started. Then it had been a empty but still cosy room with not much in it but LINDA themselves. Now it was like a posh office, or even a school, with Victor sitting at his large and decorated desk facing the members of LINDA who were all sat at their own desks in silence as they worked on finding the Doctor. "I mean I had to admit he was right, his methods were much more rigorous, it felt like we were getting closer and closer to the Doctor" Elton said to the camera. Sitting at his desk, however, he felt like he had to raise his hand to ask Victor something.

"Mr Kennedy?" He asked.

"Yes?" Victor replied as he sat with his eyes closed and his hands pressed together.

"We were wondering? No sign of Bliss, do you know where she is?" Elton asked as the other LINDA members stopped working and looked up. Mr Kennedy then opened his eyes and looked at them all.

"Yes! Didn't she tell you? She's getting married! She left a message, it'll never last! Stupid girl" He told them. "Come on! Back to work!" He the ordered them as they put their heads down again.

"But we did get lucky once" Elton told them camera.

Mr Skinner had come rushing over.

"A police box! Newly arrived! It says newly arrived today! It's in Woolwich!" He said excitedly as the LINDA members gathered round and looked at the piece of paper he was reading off before victor came over and snatched it from him. For a moment he looked at it.  
"Well don't just stand there! Move! Move! Go! Go!" He ordered them as the all began to rush off.

"But don't get excited, that's where you came in," Elton told the camera. "Woolwich, police box, red bucket, blue bucket, Mr stupid etcetera etcetera" He said.

Victor had not taken the news of Elton's missed chance well.  
"Useless!" He nearly shouted in his face.  
"I just froze" Elton told him.  
"You met him and you froze? You stupid man!" Victor yelled as he swiped the paperwork off Elton's desk as the other LINDA members looked on in intimidation.

"You can't hit me cause you don't touch, you said so, you get a rash or..." Elton began to say as Victor went over to his own desk and picked up his cane.

"I can use this!" He threatened as he strode back over with it.  
"Use that cane on him and you get one hell of a smack off me! And then a good kick" Ursula shouted as stood up and came over. "Is that completely understood Mr Kennedy?" She asked him angrily.

"Duly noted Ursula Blake, most likely to fight back" He told her as he seemed to back down. "Right then! We'll change tac!" He then said to the all in an effort to move on as Ursula and Elton shared a smile. "We'll approach this sideways, if we are to discover the truth about the Doctor then we need to try and find, them" Victor said to them all.

He'd soon set up up a projector that showed two photographs side by side of each other. One was of Rose that had been taken through a long lens as she walked through a park. The other showed Peter's official UNIT photograph where he was dressed in his formal khaki uniform in front of a blank backdrop."Now when it comes to the Doctor's companions the Torchwood files have some information on him," Victor said, indicating Peter's photograph. "Lieutenant Peter Argent, worked for UNIT with a distinguished career until last Christmas Day when he mysteriously vanished, last seen in the Doctor's company which has been confirmed his still is in" Victor told them. "But the records are strangely lacking with her," Victor said, indicating Rose's photograph. "It seems the evidence has been corrupted, something called BAD WOLF Virus, least we've got this photograph, it's first hand evidence" He said.

"Elton?" He then asked, knowing he'd seen them both.

"London accent's both of them, definitely, they're from London" He confirmed.

"So we hit the streets, we get out there we take these photographs, someone's gotta know who they truly are and where they can be found" Victor then told them all.  
"Yes but London's a big place I mean I should know, my own daughter's out there" Bridget told him.

"Bridget don't make this personal, I don't like to be touched literally or metaphorically thank you very much I haven't got the time! Bleeding hearts outside!" He told her. "Find me these two!" He then told them all as he put down copies of the photographs of Rose and Peter on each of their desks. "Elton! This is a name and address I found of one of this Lieutenant Argent's former soldier friends he served with, go there and find out what you can! You never know he may still be in contact with him" Victor told Elton as he also put a small piece of paper on his desk which had a name and address written on it. "Go! Now! Move!" He then ordered them all as the LINDA members scooped up the photographs and left.


	3. Chapter 3

Having decided to investigate Peter's old friend first Elton had soon found himself on a street of large Victorian terraced houses.

"So there I was, all ready to begin the investigation, ready to go undercover and find out the truth" Elton said to the camera.

Hesitantly knocking on the correct front door Elton nearly turned back around and left when it suddenly opened. On the other side was a well built young man with light brown hair and blue eyes.

"Can I help you?" He asked Elton.

"Stephen Amell?" Elton asked.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" Stephen asked.  
"Oh yes, er right, I'm looking for someone, and I was told you'd be able to help" He replied nervously as he tried to get information without revealing too much.

"And who are trying to find exactly?" Stephen asked, sounding slightly suspicious.

"This man, his name's Peter Argent I think? He's a Lieutenant in UNIT, or was, I don't know for certain" Elton said, stumbling slightly over his words, as he produced the photograph of Peter from out of his pocket and handed it over to him. For the tiniest of moments Elton saw Stephen's face flicker in familiarisation as he looked at the image.

"Steve? Who is it?" A woman's voice called from within the house. A moment later a young woman with long blond hair and dark brown eyes came to the door.

"This man's trying to find Peter, Emma" Stephen told him wife as he handed her the photograph.

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you but we can't help you, we haven't seen him in months" She told Elton quite certainly as she handed him back the photograph.

"I was told you worked together?" Elton asked Stephen in the hope of getting some information.

"Where are you getting this information? Who are you?" Stephen asked him suspiciously. Elton, in his nerves, failed to answer. "I think your best to leave" Stephen then told him before shutting the door in his face. Elton let out a frustrated sigh before walking away, knowing again that he'd messed up another chance. Inside the house Stephen was peering through the front window's curtains, watching him walk away. "He's gone" He told Emma after a moment before turning to face her where she was stood in the middle of the lounge.

"What did he want? Why was he after Peter?" She asked in worry.

"I don't know," Stephen replied as he came over to her.

"What if he knows about him? What he is?" Emma suddenly gasped.

"No, he didn't know anything I'm sure of it," Stephen reassured before he held onto his wife in comfort. "Besides it's Peter we're talking about, he's clever and can easily evade one guy" He added. Emma nodded but then turned to the lounge's fireplace where a series of framed photographs were sat on the mantelpiece. Carefully she picked one up.

"I miss him, I hope he's ok" She said sadly as she and Stephen both looked down at the image. It had been taken the previous year on a night out with Peter stood to the left of Stephen and Emma, all of then laughing and smiling broadly as the camera with their arms around each other. After a moment Stephen made up his mind as walked over to the telephone on a nearby table. "What are you doing?" Emma asked him as she watched him pick up the phone and dial a number.

"I still have his number, I can still warn him" Stephen replied as he held the phone to his ear.

"Will it work though? Remember what he told us? If he ever vanished it was cause he'd found a way home" Emma told him. Stephen nodded to show he understood but remained on the line.  
"It's ringing but there's no answer," He said after a while. "It's definitely Peter's phone though, it has his voice mail" He told her.  
"Then leave him a message, he'll hear eventually, your right he has to be warned" Emma told him as she set the photograph back down on the mantelpiece.

"Ok so undercover mission number one didn't do so well," Elton admitted to the camera. "But I quickly move on to mission number two, the impossible task, to scourer the mean streets, to search a major capital city for an unknown girl, to hunt down that face in a seething metropolis of souls, to find that one girl in ten million" He then said as he remembered walking through London's streets in the hope of finding someone who knew her. Turns out it didn't take as long as he'd imagined.

"Oh that's Rose Tyler she lives just down there, Bucknall House number forty eight, her mother's Jackie Tyler, nice family, bit odd" An old woman told him soon after he started asking around. Happy that he had a lead Elton took off at a run towards where the woman had pointed to. Coming to a halt on a small street of shops he began looking around.

"Oi Jackie!" A woman suddenly called. She was stood at the doorway of a newsagents as she shouted over to Jackie Tyler who was walking towards the laundrette with her washing.  
"Hello sweetheart! I'll see you down the Spinning Wheel tonight yeah? Pub quiz! Get in it!" Jackie replied with a laugh as she went into the laundrette. Taking off his coat to take off his over shirt Elton then carried it over to the laundrette and stepped inside as he walked past Jackie and up to a spare washing machine and threw his shirt in it.

"I been trained for this, Victor Kennedy's classes covered basic surveillance and espionage, step one engage you target, find some excuse to start a conversation, but how was I going to do this? How?" He told the camera. But it had been Jackie that had talked to him first.

"Excuse me love? You couldn't give us a quid for two fifties could you?" She'd asked him as she came over.

"Oh yeah," Elton replied with a smile as he rummaged through the change in his pockets.

"Oh lovely cheers" Jackie thanked as they swapped over the change before she walked back over to her machine.

"Step two, without provoking suspicion, get on first name terms with the target" Elton told the camera. But again it had been Jackie that did this.

"My name's Jackie by the way" She told him as Elton put money into his machine.

"I'm Elton" He replied.

"Oh you don't meet many Elton's do you? Apart from the obvious" Jackie said with a laugh.

"Step three, ingratiate yourself with a joke or some humorous device" Elton told the camera. Once again, however, Jackie took care of this herself.

"I tell you what Elton here we are complete strangers and I'm flashing you my knickers!" She joked as she waved a pair as they both started laughing.

"Step four, find some way to integrate yourself into the targets household" Elton told the camera. But before had even tried to come up with a way in Jackie had spoken up.

"Mind you I'm only down here cause my washing machine's knackered," She told him. "I don't suppose your any good at fixing things are you?" She asked as she came over to him.

Soon Elton found himself kneeling behind Jackie's washing machine in her flat as he fixed it.

"Here we are, it was the fuse there's nothing wrong with the machine that's fine" He told her as he fixed the plug. "All working" He said as he stood back up and put the machine back in place.

"Oh Elton I should have you on tap"Jackie told him with a smile. "I use to have this little mate called Mickey he did all this stuff," She said before pausing slightly. "He gone now, bless him" She added sadly.

"Well if you need me give us a call, I'll jot down my number" Elton told her.  
"Oh you do that and I'll make us a cup of tea, go and sit down put the telly on if you want, can't bear it silent" She offered as she went over to the kettle. Elton smiled and headed into the lounge but then paused as he looked around, seeing photographs of Rose on the mantelpiece. "It's just me these days rattling about" Jackie told him once she'd come in with the tea as they'd sat down. "There's my daughter, she's gone travelling, I keep her bedroom nice and ready though, just in case she comes back" She told him.  
"And her name is?" Elton asked.

"Rose" Jackie replied as Elton looked at one of the photographs of Rose.

"It's a nice name, Rose" He said before looking back to Jackie. "So where's she travelling?" He asked her.

"All over, she's got her mobile, I get a call now and then not as often as I'd like still that age who could be bothered phoning home?" Jackie replied.

"Who she with? Is it mates or...?" Elton began to ask.

"Just mates, yeah" She replied, think deeply about something.

"Well if I had you making a nice cup of tea like this I wouldn't stray far from home" Elton told her, changing the subject. Jackie smiled.

"Your a charmer, say it again?" She joked as they both laughed.

Victor Kennedy and the members of LINDA had been very impressed by Elton's findings.

"Magnificent! Oh I could kiss you! Expect I can't of course, the exemma" Victor told him.

"I thought you'd be mad that I didn't get anywhere with Lieutenant Argent?" Elton sheepishly asked.  
"No not at all, what matters in the bigger picture is that we find the Doctor" Victor reassured him.

"Well I even got a photo of Jackie on my phone" Elton then said as he took out his phone and showed it to the group.

"That's amazing! You've achieved steps one to four in precise order! How did you manage it?" Mr Skinner asked him.

"Well it was very hard, she keeps everything close to her chest" Elton replied.

"That's a hell of a chest" Ursula said, looking at the photograph.

"Who'd you move on? Step five? That's the problem" Bridget told Victor.

"Step five! That's this week's homework, I want a full plan of attack from each of you, now go on! Vamoose! Avanti! There's work to do!" He told them all, knocking his can on his desk. "And Elton? Keep infiltrating! You'll do anything to get that information boy! Anything!" He told Elton as the LINDA members started leaving.

"Yes sir!" Elton replied enthusiastically.

"Oh oh Bridget? Could I have a word in private please?" Victor then asked Bridget just as she was leaving.  
"Er, Mr Skinner's giving me a lift," She explained as Mr Skinner also stopped and waited for her.

"Oh I can give drop you off at the station, I'm sure Mr Skinner won't mind will you?" Victor offered. Bridget turned to face Mr Skinner with a smile.

"Not at all," He replied, but sounded slightly disappointed. "Er, Bridget I'll see you next week?" He told Bridget.

"Ok," She said with a smile before Mr Skinner nervously kissed her on her cheek before joining Elton and Ursula in the lift. "Bye bye" Bridget told them as she gave them a wave.

Walking away from the building Ursula turned to Mr Skinner.  
"Now Mr Skinner I don't mean to pry but did you give Bridget a little kiss back there?" She asked him.

"I think I did" Mr Skinner admitted with a grin.

"And if I get your way might there be more little kisses between the two of you?" Ursula asked him.

"I think there might" He admitted again.

"I knew it!" Ursula exclaimed.

"That's brilliant!" Elton added.

"Now let's not get excited, we'll see" Mr Skinner told them both. Like the last time, with Bliss, none of the group heard Bridget's scream come from the building behind them.

Elton soon found that infiltrating Jackie's flat again and again was easy as Jackie had begun calling him over for odd jobs around her flat.

"Infiltration went well cause Jackie kept phoning up needing this and needing that, but it was strange, the amount of things that needed doing, it's like that flat was jinxed" He told the camera as he remembered fixing plug fuse after plug fuse whilst Jackie made him endless cups of tea, enjoying the view as Elton stretched up to fix a light or bend over to fix the plumbing.

"It's weird these fuses that keep on blowing, must be near a substation cause then you get the power surges, still there we go, fixed," He said one day as he fixed a fuse down the side of the sofa in the lounge. But as he turned around he got a surprise as he saw Jackie, who'd done up her hair and make up, stood right next to him dressed in a short black skirt and blue top with two glasses of wine in her hands.

"Here we are, little reward for my favourite handy man" She told him, offering him a glass of wine as he stood up.

"I shouldn't really, I've got the car outside" He tried to tell her.

"Well you could always splash out on a taxi? Or whatever, see what happens?" She told him flirtatiously.

"Ok, cheers" Elton nervously toasted before they took a drink. "Very nice, what's that? French?" He then asked, indicating the wine.  
"I suppose so, they know how to do things, the French" Jackie replied.  
"Is it from Rose? I mean is she in France?" He asked, steering the conversation back to where he wanted it to go.

"My daughter won't be coming back tonight just in case you were wondering, we've got the place to ourselves" Jackie replied with a smile.

"Right," Elton replied as he noticed the music that was playing. "Nice music" He said.

"Il Divo" She told him.  
"Yeah" Elton said with a nod.

"You we're saying, power surges?" Jackie then said as she took a step towards him. Elton ended up backing into the display cabinet behind him as he took a step back.

"From the power station yeah" He replied.

"Is that why it gets so hot in here?" She asked flirtatiously.

"Is it hot?" Elton asked, sounding nervous again.  
"I think so, you should take your jacket off" She told him.  
"No I'm fine..." Elton began protesting.

"You must be boiling" Jackie said at the same time as she stepped forward. Accidentally she spilt a little wine on his shirt. "Oh look at your shirt, I'm sorry" She gasped.

"It's fine it's all right" He tried to tell her.

"I've ruined it" Jackie insisted.

"No honestly it's, it's fine" Elton said.

"Take it off I'll put it in the wash" Jackie offered.

"Oh come on it's only a little drop" He insisted. Jackie then deliberately spilt more wine on his shirt.

"There now, ruined" She told him leaving him no other choice.


	4. Chapter 4

Locking the door behind him as he entered Jackie's bathroom Elton began taking off his jacket and shirt.

"So there I was, ultimate step five, the perfect infiltration, target Jackie Tyler" He said to the camera as he remembered freshening up and getting himself ready for her, leaving his shirt off as he left the bathroom.

"Right, it is a bit hot but it's about to get hotter" He said as he strode into the lounge but stopped when he saw Jackie was sat on the sofa's armchair talking on the telephone.

"I'll see you soon, all right be careful bye" She said before hanging up and sitting there for a moment, looking sad.

"Everything all right?" Elton asked tentatively.

"That was my daughter," She replied before looking up at him. "Oh look at you, I'm sorry, I was just being stupid," She told him. Elton nodded.

"Is she ok?" He asked.

"She's so far away, I get left here sometimes and er, I don't know where she is, anything could be happening to her, anything, and I just go a bit mad, oh put your shirt back on" She told him softly.

"Where is she?" Elton asked gently.

"Doesn't matter, I'm sorry, you better go" Jackie told him. Elton turned to leave but then stopped as he realised something.

"Actually," He started to tell her. "And that's when it struck me, funny the things you think of with your shirt off but that's when I realised what was really important," He told the camera as he remembered standing there smiling at her. "Never mind about Rose I'm not even going to ask and I will put my shirt back on because I'm gonna go out and get us both a pizza cause I reckon you need cheering up" He'd told Jackie who smiled. "She goes swanning off and who's left to care about you hey? So I say a nice bit of pizza we'll put the telly on nice and loud we'll annoy that woman next door! Just you and me as proper mates! Yeah? Mates?" He told her as she cheered up greatly. "Go on? Say yes?" He asked her.

"Yes" She gladly said.

Walking back to Jackie's flat with the two pizzas he'd bought Elton had never been happier.

"All of a sudden a lot of things made sense, I got so lost in conspiracies and aliens and targets I'd been missing the obvious cause I did like Jackie but I liked someone else even more" He told the camera as he danced to 'Mr Blue Sky' as he thought about Ursula.

But when he'd got near the entrance of Jackie's tower block Elton saw that Jackie was stood outside, holding his jacket. "Right, let's get inside then, the pizzas getting cold" He told her. She didn't immediately respond.

"I went in your coat, for once in my life I thought I'll pay I thought he's such a nice man he won't accept anything so I'll just slip a tenner in his pocket and look what I found" She told him as she produced Rose's photograph that he'd been carrying. " A photograph of my daughter," She said quietly.

"No no it's not like that I can explain" Elton tried to say.

"I bet you can" Jackie told him.

"I wasn't being purvey or anything I wasn't after her..." Elton began to say.

"Or Peter I guess?" Jackie guessed as she took out Peter's photograph too.  
"I was looking for the Doctor" Elton told her, trying to make her see that everything was ok now.  
"Oh I know that, I worked that out cause it's never me is it?" She asked him, beginning to sound angry.

"No but that's how it started but I changed my mind!" Elton tried to tell her.

"You wanna know things!? The let me tell you a few things!" Jackie spat at him. "My daughter is the only thing I have left in this whole world! Peter spent nearly his whole life separated from his family and home and has only just got them back!" She told him harshly. "And as for the people who get left behind! It's hard! And that's what you become, hard! But if there is one thing I've learned is that I will never let my daughter down and I'll protect all three of them until the end of my life! So whatever you want I'm warning you back off!" She told him.

"But Jackie I only wanted to meet him" Elton told her.

"I thought you liked me?" She asked him.  
"I do" He insisted.

"Just get out of here!" She shouted at him as she threw his coat at him. "I said get out! And leave me alone!" She shouted before running back to her flat, leaving Elton full of guilt. But he knew this wasn't just his fault.

At the next meeting he gone up to Victor Kennedy.

"And she was right! It's shameful! We used that woman!" He told him angrily as Ursula and Mr Skinner watched from their desks.  
"I knew I couldn't trust you!" Victor shouted back as he stood up from his desk. "You broke cover! You stupid little man! You failed step five!" He told him.  
"I don't care about step five! Cause it's all gone wrong Mr Kennedy ever since you turned up!" Elton suddenly shouted as Victor sat back down. "We use to come here every week and we'd have a laugh, we were friends, no wonder they stopped coming! I mean there's no Bliss any more and even Bridget! She hasn't turned up!" Elton continued to say as he looked to Ursula and Mr Skinner before looking back at Victor.

"I've been phoning and phoning, there's no reply" Mr Skinner told Elton.  
"And who can blame her!? I'm sorry Victor but your on your own! Cause I am leaving!" Elton told Victor determinedly before turning to face Ursula and Mr Skinner. "And so are you Mr Skinner! And as for you Ursula! Your coming with me! And we're going to the Golden Lotus and we're going to have a Chinese!" He said as he then walked over to Ursula.

"What's that got to do with it?" She asked.

"I mean you and me, together, having a meal, if you want?" He asked.

"Oh, I'd love it" She replied, looking taken aback, as Elton smiled.

"But you can't leave! You'll never know what he was doing! The Doctor! You'll never know what he was doing in you house all those years ago!" Victor tried to persuade him to stay.

"No, I'll never know, "Elton told him quietly. "Ursula get your stuff," He then said as Ursula began grabbing her things. "Mr Skinner are you coming? Not to the Chinese if you don't mind? Just sort of walking out?" He then asked, looking back at him.  
"I certainly am" He replied as he began gathering his things. Elton then looked back to Victor.

"Victor, good luck good bye" He told him defiantly before turning to leave with the others.  
"Mr Skinner?" Victor called, stopping him. "Would you stay for a minute? Please?" He asked.

"We're walking out" Mr Skinner reminded him.

"I've got numbers for Bridget! I've kept records! I've got old numbers! We can track her down! Together you and I?" He offered. Mr Skinner looked back at Elton and Ursula and gave a shrug.

"That's more like the old team spirit, you two have a nice time" He told them.

"I hope you find her" Ursula told him.  
"I'll email you" Elton added before they got into the lift and were soon going up to the floor above.

"Just come a little closer" Victor then told Mr Skinner, inviting him towards him as Mr Skinner walked over to him.

Outside Ursula and Elton were walking away hand in hand from the building, talking about their plans for the Chinese meal. The failed to hear Mr Skimmer's scream but Ursula suddenly stopped.

"Oh I left my phone!" She realised as she rummaged through her pockets.

"Really?" Elton asked.  
"Yeah it's not in my pockets" Ursula said with a sigh.  
"So much for the big exit" Elton tutted before they walked back towards the building.

Coming down the lift and sliding back the guard rails they walked into the room.

"I'm not stopping I just left my phone," Ursula started to say to Victor but stopped when she looked towards him. He was sat at his desk reading his newspaper that blocked him from view. "Victor?" She asked, sensing something was wrong.

"Take your phone and go" He replied, though his voice sounded different somehow.  
"Where's Mr Skinner?" Ursula asked as she and Elton slowly walked up the room towards him.

"He's gone to the toilet" Victor quickly lied.  
"But we haven't got toilets, we have to use the pub on the corner" Elton told him, getting suspicious.  
"Well, well that's where he is then" Victor said nervously. Only his hand could been seen as they held the edged of the paper which looked very odd in the dim light of the room.  
"Help me!" A familiar voice suddenly called.

"What was that?" Ursula asked.

"Nothing! It was nothing!" Victor snapped at them.

"Help me!" Mr Skinner's voice suddenly cried out.  
"Shut up!" Victor snapped.  
"That's Mr Skinner" Elton realised as he ans Ursula drew closer and closer to the desk.  
"Victor! Look at you hands!" Ursula gasped as she saw his fat green clawed hands.

"Look at the rest of me" He replied as he put the newspaper down, allowing then to see him. "You've dappled with aliens now meet the genuine article" He told them, proud to be seen. With green skin, a fat body that had face's one it and a long black Mohawk it was unlike anything Ursula or Elton could had imagined.

"Oh my god!" Ursula exclaimed.

"Your a, thing" Elton tried to say.  
"A thing! This thing is my true form! Better that that crude pink shape you call a body!" Victor snapped at them.

"What happened? Where am I? Ursula is that you?" One of the face's on victor's stomach asked. It was Mr Skinner.

"That's Mr Skinner! What have you done to him!?" Ursula angrily asked Victor.

"I've absorbed him" He replied with a lick of his lips.  
"Colin? Is that you? Colin?" Bridget's voice suddenly asked, her face being on the back of Victor's shoulder.

"Bridget my love?" Mr Skinner called.  
"Oh my god! That's Bridget!" Ursula exclaimed again.

"Colin where are you!?" Bridget called out.

"I'm here Bridget! It's all right I'm close" Mr Skinner reassured her.

"You've absorbed them both!" Ursula gasped at Victor.

"What about Bliss? Where is she!?" Elton asked him angrily. A muffled response was then heard. "What?" Elton asked quietly. Victor lifted his backside off the chair slightly.

"I said you really don't want to know" Bliss was then heard to say clearly before Victor sat back down on her again.

"You've absorbed them! Your some sort of, Abzorbathon? An Abzorbaling? An Abzorbaloff!?" Elton then said, trying to come up with a name for Victor.  
"Yes I like that" Victor told him.

"Let them go! I'm ordering you! Let those people go!" Ursula suddenly shouted at Victor.  
"Oh but they taste so sweet! Just think about the Doctor? Oh how will he taste? All that experience! All that knowledge!" Victor exclaimed. "And if I've got to absorb Jackie Tyler to get to him then so be it" He then told Elton.

"Don't you dare!" He warned him. Ursula then marched over and grabbed his cane before holding it over Victor, ready to hit him with it.

"If I have to beat them out of you!" Sh threatened him as he seemed to cower and scream in mercy.

"No please don't hit me! Look me! I'm such a slow and clumsy beast oh please don't hit me!" He appeared to beg. Ursula dropped her guard slightly as she lowered the cane.  
"Well then, give them back" She told him.

"What? You mean like this?" Victor asked. Suddenly he lunged forward and grabbed Ursula's arm as he snatched back his cane. "Just one touch! That's all it takes!" He growled victoriously as Ursula watched herself begin to get sucked into him.

"Leave her alone!" Elton shouted as he started to move towards her in an attempt to pull her away.  
"Don't touch me!" Ursula warned him back. "Oh Elton I'm so sorry, you can't touch me" She told him, tearing up now.

"Ursula!" Elton gasped, unable to come to terms with the realisation that he was going to lose her.

"Most likely to fight back indeed!" Victor taunted.  
"Leave her alone!" Elton begged him. But it was too late. With a final scream Ursula was absorbed into Victor.


	5. Chapter 5

Her face appeared a moment later on his chest.

"No! That's not far!" Elton shouted at him.

"She taste's like chicken" Victor said with a burp.

"Elton where are you?" Ursula's face asked.

"Please? Mr Kennedy please? I'm asking you, I am begging you, give her back to me?" Elton begged him quietly as Victor finished digesting Ursula.

"I can't, once they've been absorbed the process is irreversible" Victor told him.

"Wait a minute! Now I've been absorbed I can read his thoughts!" Ursula suddenly said as Victor chuckled quietly. "Oh my god! Elton your next! Get out of here! Now you've seen him he can't let you go" She warned Elton as Victor slowly looked up at him. "Just run! Go on! Never mind me! Get out!" Ursula tearfully sobbed.

"Isn't she the cleaver one?" Victor said with a grin.  
"Run Elton! Run!" Ursula screamed.

"Save yourself boy!" Mr Skinner shouted.

"Run for your life!" Bridget warned him as Bliss also gave a muffled response. Suddenly Victor sprung up off his seat and moved surprisingly quickly for his figure as he gave chase to Elton who had turned around and started running for his life up the stairs next to lift.

Bursting out of the building Elton started running down the nearby back alleyways as Victor gave chase. Suddenly Elton came to a dead end with a brick wall in front of him. Trying a pair of metal doors to the side of him but finding them locked he backed up into the middle of the ally and sank to his knees as Victor came to a halt in front of him.

"Oh what's a matter? Have you given up so soon?" He taunted.

"There's no point, where would I go? Everything I ever wanted..." Elton began to say.  
"Had been absorbed!" Victor finished his sentence.  
"Oh Elton don't say that" Ursula told Elton quietly.  
"Bit it's true!" He called back, giving up.  
"Then join us, join us little man, come on, it's everlasting peace come on join us, dissolve into me" Victor told him as he started walked towards him, his arm stretched out reach to absorb him. Victor was mere inches from absorbing Elton when the Tardis's engines were first heard. Both Victor and Elton then looked down the street and watched as the Tardis appeared in front of them. The Doctor then stepped out.

"Some people want a word with you" He told Elton just as Rose and Peter marched out of the Tardis, with Peter on his mobile phone.  
"You upset my mum! No one upsets my mum!" Rose shouted at Elton, who was still knelt down on the floor.

"Great big absorbing creature from outer space and your having a go at me?" He asked her curiously.

"Stephen describe the man who visited you to me?" Peter asked down his phone. "Um hum, yeah, right, ok yeah it is him, yeah he's right in front of me now," He then said, glaring at Elton slightly. "No no there's no problem, no, no threat, nothing to worry about" He then reassured down the phone. "But listen thanks for watching my back like that, I'll come and see you soon I should have come sooner and explained things, give my love to Emma, ok take care bye" He said before he hung up on the call and pocketed his phone. For a moment his stood staring at Elton with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance. Elton hadn't realised from the photograph or from his previous brief encounter how dangerous and intimidating Peter looked and would probably be. "Same guy who harassed Jackie" Peter told the Doctor and Rose without taking his eyes off Elton.

"I can..." Elton tried to say to him in defense but Peter's tempered expression made him think twice about say anything else.

"Stephen and Emma are my closest friends, I've known them since I was five years old, they know everything about me and would guard all of it with their lives so do you really think they wouldn't tell me the second someone tried to track me down!?" Peter growled at him. Elton failed to answer so instead knelt where he was.

"At last! The greatest feast of all! The Doctor!" Victor took his chance to speak, bringing the attention to him.

"Interesting? Some sort of Abzorbatrix? Abzorbaclon? Abzorbaloff?" The Doctor said, trying to come up with a name.

"Abzorbaloff yes!" Victor agreed.  
"Is it me or does he seem a bit Slitheen?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"Not from Raxacoricofallapatorius are you?" The Doctor then asked Victor.

"No! I'm not the swine! I spit on them!" Victor spat. "I was born on their twin planet" He explained.

"Really? What's the twin plant of Raxacoricofallapatorius?" The Doctor asked.

"Clom" Victor replied.

"Clom?" The Doctor asked.

"Clom yes and I'll return there victorious once I possess your traveling machine" Victor told him.  
"Well that's never going to happen" The Doctor told him casually.  
"Oh it will! You'll surrender yourself to me Doctor or this one dies" Victor threatened as he pointed to Elton. "You see I've read about you Doctor I've studied you, so passionate! So sweet! You wouldn't let an innocent man die! And I'll absorb him unless you give yourself to me" He told him as he pointed one of his fat clawed fingers before turning and hovering his hand over Elton. Both Rose and Peter looked to the Doctor as he scratched his head.

"Sweet? Maybe, passionate? I suppose but don't ever mistake that for nice" He replied. "Do what you want he then told a confused Victor.  
"He'll die Doctor!" Victor reminded him.

"Go on then" The Doctor challenged. Victor looked at him for a minute before growling.  
"So be it" He said as he started to move his hand down towards Elton's head.

"Mind you the others might have something to say" The Doctor then said, making Victor stop and look at him again.  
"Others?" Victor asked in puzzlement.

"He's right! The Doctor's right! We can't let him!" Ursula suddenly said. "Oh Mr Skinner, Bridget, pull! For god sakes pull!" She told her friends.  
"No! Stop!" Victor shouted as they began straining against his skin as if trying to push their way out.  
"If it's the last thing we ever do! Bliss! All of us together! Come on! Pull! LINDA united! Pull" Ursula shouted. Victor was soon crippled with pain as they pulled against his skill and suddenly dropped his cane. "Elton the cane! Break it!" Ursula shouted as Elton grabbed hold of it and snapped it over his knee. The closed hand at the top of the cane suddenly opened up and lit up in a bright white light.  
"My cane! Your stupid man!" Victor shouted at him among his painful screams. Suddenly Victor and all of his victims dissolved into a green gooey puddle that then began to disappear.

"What did I do?" Elton asked the Doctor quietly.

"The cane created a limitation field, now it's broken he can't stop, the absorber is being absorbed" The Doctor replied as he Rose and Peter watched as the puddle was sucked into the ground.  
"By what?" Elton asked as he also watched.

"By the Earth" The Doctor replied. Once the gooey mess had vanished a face imprint came through once on the concrete flag stones.

"Bye bye Elton bye bye" Ursula's voice said before the flag stone returned to normal though Elton continued to stare at it.

"Who was she?" Rose asked sympathetically.  
"That was Ursula" Elton tearfully replied. Rose then went over and knelt beside him, wrapping an arm around him as he began to fight back the tears.

"And that's it, almost because the Doctor still had more to say" Elton told the camera.

That day in the alley the Doctor had sat down with Elton on a nearby set of stairs with Rose and Peter sat on the other side of Elton.  
"You don't remember do you?" The Doctor had asked him.

"And then he explained, that night, all those years ago" Elton had told the camera as he remembered what the Doctor had told him.

"There was a shadow in your house, a living shadow in the darkness, an elemental shade that had escaped from the Howling Halls, I stopped it but, I wasn't in time to save her, I'm sorry" The Doctor told him as Elton remembered not only seeing the Doctor but his mother's body lying on the lounge floor.

"Cause that was the night my mother died" Elton told the camera as he remembered her and watched some old home movies he had of her. "We forget because we must" He quietly told the camera.

Switching it back on as he sat back down at his desk Elton made himself comfortable. "So there you go, turns out I've had the most terrible things happen and the most brilliant things, sometimes well, I can't tell the difference, they're all the same they're just me" He told the camera. "You know Stephen King said once he said, salvation and damnation are the same thing, and I never knew what he meant, but I do now" He said. "Cause the Doctor might be wonderful but thinking back I was having such a special time, just for a bit I had this nice little gang," He said as he remembered LINDA's meetings before Victor Kennedy arrived. "And they were destroyed, it's not his fault, but maybe that's what happens if you touch the Doctor, even for a second" He told he camera. "I keep thinking of Rose, Peter and Jackie and how much longer before they pay the price," He said solemnly.

"Oh now don't get all miserable, come on Elton you've still got me" Ursula told him. Elton smiled.

"Oh yeah, cause the Doctor said he could do one last thing with his magic wand" He told the camera.

The Doctor had gone over to the flagstone where Ursula had been last seen and stood crouched over it as he scanned it with the Sonic Screwdriver.

"If I can key into the absorb matrix and separate the last victim, it's too late for total reconstitution but...," The Doctor began to say just at the flag stone began to bubble. "Elton! Fetch a spade!" He shouted as he stood back up.

"Even then after all that, the Doctor saved me one last time" Elton told the camera before he reached over to his desk and picked up the flag stone he'd took home from the street. Sitting back down he propped it up on his knee. "Here she is" He told the camera as he looked down at the flag stone that had Ursula's alive face embedded into it.

"Could be worse, at least I'll never age and it really is quite peaceful, you'd be surprised" She told Elton.  
"It's a relationship of sorts but we manage, we've even got a bit of a love life" Elton told the camera.

"Oh let's not go into that" Ursula said.

"And I don't care what anyone thinks, I love her" Elton told the camera smiled. "But the thing is," Elton said as he picked up a remote control and pressed a button that made the camera zoom in on him. "Even bought a remote zoom," He said as he settled on the zoom level and set the remote down. "But what I wanted to say is, you know when your a kid they tell you it's all grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid and that's it" He said. "But the truth is the world is so much stranger than that, it's so much darker, and so much madder, and so much better" He said before turning off the camera.


End file.
